How did nuclear warheads make long-range ballistic missiles more important?

Nuclear warheads significantly increased the importance of long-range ballistic missiles by compensating for inherent limitations in guidance technology. Because strategic-range missiles cannot consistently deliver a payload with pinpoint accuracy, they rely on the immense destructive power of nuclear warheads, which do not need to strike a target directly to destroy it.12

This capability transformed ballistic missiles into the primary delivery vehicles for strategic deterrence, eventually surpassing manned bombers in importance. By enabling the nuclear triad—which includes land-based missiles, nuclear submarines, and bombers—these weapons ensured that superpowers could maintain second-strike capability to deter preemptive attacks. Consequently, the development of these systems became central to the doctrine of mutual assured destruction, as the combination of long-range reach and nuclear yield created a credible threat of overwhelming retaliation.34